Locking device for piano-pedals



.NO Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1. G. B. SHEARER. LOGKINGDEVIOE FOR PIANOPEDALS.

Patented Apr. 10-, 1894.

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(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

G.B.SHEARER.

LOOKING DEVICE FOR PIANO PEDALS.

No. 518,163. Pafiuenned Apr. 10,1894.

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GEORGE BENTON SHEARER, OF ONEONTA, NEW YORK.

LOCKING DEVICE FOR PlANO-PEDALS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 518,163, dated April10, 1894.

Application filed July 28, 1893' Serial No. 481,742- (No model.) I

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, GEORGE BENTON SHEAR- ER, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Oneonta, in the county of Otsego and State of NewYork, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in LookingDevices for Piano-Pedals; and I do declare the following to be a full,clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use thesame, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to thefigures of reference marked thereon, which form a part of thisspecification.

My invention relates to pianos, and has reference particularly topractice pedals for the same, and seeks for its object to provideimproved means for operating what is technically known as a muffler soas to soften or muffle the sound of the piano when desired inpracticing, although it may be used for other purposes.

The invention will be hereinafter particu;

larly described and then sought to be specifically defined by theclaims, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a parthereof, and in which- Figure 1 is a plan view of a piano pedal showingparts of my invention applied thereto. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of thedevice with parts in section and shows the pedal in its depressedposition for throwing the muffler (not shown) into action. Fig. 3 is aside elevation of parts of the device showing the pedal in its positionwhen the mufller is out of action. Fig. 4 is a plan view of a modifiedform of the invention. Fig. 5 is a side elevation with parts in sectionof the modified form showing the pedal in position when the muffler-(notshown) is not in action; and Fig. 6 is a side elevation of parts of thedevice showing the pedal in its depressed position when the muffler isin action.

A muffler adapted to be dropped and raised to throw it between thehammers and strings in order to muffle the sound when practicing uponthe piano and to move it from between the hammers and strings at othertimes, and a rod leading down from the muffler and having connectionwith operating mechanism for drawing the muffler into and out of action,are well known in the -art and need not be illustrated to understand myinvention and I will therefore confine my description and illustrationto the parts which constitute my invention.

In the accompanying drawings the numeral 1 indicates a portion of thecase of apiano and 2 designates a foot pedal or lever which may besuitably fulcrumed, say to a standard 3 rising from a base block 4secured by screws or otherwise to the base of the case, the end of thelever being secured to said standard by a pivot pin 5 or otherwise asfound convenient or desirable. This pedal has a rod 6 attached to it inany suitable way, say by passing the rod through the pedal and having anut or other form of head 7 secured to its end so as to bear against theunder face of the pedal, the upper end of the rod being suitably securedto a horizontally extending arm or lever 8 which may be pivoted orfnlcrumed to a bracket 9 secured to the under side of the key board 10which arm or lever 8 is adapted to be connected at one end with a rod orconnecting means (not shown) leading up to the muffler (not shown). Theopening or hole 11 in the pedal 2 through which the rod 6 passes isenlarged or made flaring from its lower end upwardly in order that thepedal may have a free up and down movement without binding on the rod asclearly illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3 of the drawings, and a spring 12will be suitably located, say so as to bear against the rear end of thearm or lever for the purpose of restoring said arm or lever and themuffler to their normal position whenever the pedal 2 is released from alook so that the spring may act to move the parts, the strength of thespring 12 preferably being such that it will hold the pedal 2 in theposition illustrated in Fig.3when the muffler is out of action.

In order to lock the pedal in its depressed of the case and bypreference made to extend through an opening 16 in thepedal, the saidspring stop preferably working in a slot in the post 14 and secured atone end to the post by a pin 17 while the .other end is formed with abook 18 or otherwise so as to engage a catch 19 so that at the propertime the spring stop can be pressed inwardly and afterward can be freeto spring outwardly to its normal position. This spring stop is designedto engage with a projection or pin 20 on the pedal 2 so that when saidprojection or pin bears against the shoulder portion of said stop thepedal will be held in its depressed position, as illustrated clearly inFig. 2 of the drawings, in which position the lever or arm Sis drawndown so as to bring the muffler (not shown) between the hammers and thestrings.

When it is desired to release the pedal 2 so that the muffler may bethrown to its normal position out of action, a pin or bolt 21 which mayhave its bearing partly in the pedal 2 and partly in the ear 22 asillustrated in Figs. 2 and 3 of the drawings, is pressed forward by apivoted finger or trigger 23 so as to bear against the spring stop 13and press it inward to free it from the stop or projection 20 whereuponthe spring 12 will act upon the rear arm of the lever 8 so as to liftthe pedal 2 and throw up the forward end of the lever 8 in order thatthe muffler may be thrown out of action. The finger or trigger 23 ispivoted in a slot formed in the pedal 2 as clearly illustrated in Figs.1, 2 and 3 of the drawings, the position of the several parts when intheir normal condition being illustrated in Fig. 3 of the drawings. Whenit is desired to throw the mufl'ler into operation it is necessary topress down the pedal 2 with the foot which movement causes the pin orprojection 20 to press the spring stop 13 inwardly until said pin orprojection reaches a point below the shoulder of said spring stop whenthe spring at once, upon being relieved of pressure, assumes its normalposition and the stop or pin bearing against its shoulder, the pedalwill beheld in its depressed position and the muffier between the hammerand strings, in which position the pin or bolt at its lower end bearsagainst the trigger 23 and presses its upper end above the top of thefoot pedal in the position shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings, which actionmay be effected either by the gravitation of the pin or bolt 21 or bythe spring stop 13 hearing against the upper end of said pin or bolt andpressing it downward as indicated in Fig. 2 of the drawings. When theparts are in the position indicated in Fig. 2 the mere pressure of thefoot upon the trigger 23 forces the pin or bolt upward and causes it tobear against the spring stop 13 so as to push it outof engagement withthe pin or projection 20 while the spring 12 will act to throw the partsin their normal position.

Instead of employing the arrangement of parts illustrated in Figs. 1, 2and 3, I may employ the arrangement shown in Figs. 4, 5, and 6 by whichthe same results are accomplished and by which substantially the sameaction of the parts is obtained. In Figs. 4, 5 and 6 I have illustratedthe pedal 2 as folcrumed to the forward portion of the case 1 and itsrear end formed with the cup or de pression 24 in which fits loosely thelower end of the rod 25 which at its upper end is con nected to the rearend of the arm or lever 8. In this modification I haveillustrated the p0sition of the spring stop 13 as reversed from that shown in Fig. 2 ofthe drawings so that in the modification the projecting portion of thisspring stop is at the top instead of at the bottom of the spring. Thehooked end of the spring stop is also shown as engaging a pin 26 whichis the equivalent of the catch 19 shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings andoperates to serve the same purpose. In this modification I have shownthe sliding pin or bolt 21 as sustained by the two cars 22 instead of byone of said ears and the pedal as illustrated in Fig. 2 of the drawings.The sliding pin or bolt however operates in the same manner as the formillustrated in Fig. 2 and is designed for the same purpose.

Under the construction illustrated in Figs. 4, 5 and 6, when the pedalis depressed the pin or projection 20 is pressed against the face of thespring stop 13 so as to force the stop inwardly until said pin orprojection rises above the top or shoulder of the spring stop whereuponthe spring rebounds, assuming its normal position and the stop or projection being above and bearing against it the pedal is held in itsdepressed position so as to hold the muffler between the hammers and thestrings. At the same time the spring pin or bolt 21 is bearing againstthe trigger or finger 23 so as to press the same slightly above the topof the pedal in order that it may be depressed by the foot when it isdesired to .throw the sliding pin or bolt against the spring stop 13 topress the same inward from under the pin or projection 20 so that thespring 12 may be free to act on the lever 8 to press down the rear endof the pedal 2 and the arm or lever 8 so as to throw the mufller out ofaction.

It will be observed that the construction illustrated in the severalfigures of the drawings act on the same principle and in sub--stantially the same Way to produce substantially the same results andone form therefore is the equivalent of the other. It is also obvious tothe skilled in the art that while the constructions illustrated maypossess advantages still the essential features of this invention can beembodied in various details which will not depart from the spirit of theinvention.

By the construction illustrated I provide a very simple and efficientmechanism for op erating the muffler of a piano or similar instrument,and a construction embodying but few parts which are positive in actionand ICO contained within a small space and which will prove durable inuse and not liable to get out of order.

Having described my invention and set forth its merits, what I claimis- 1. The combination of the foot-pedal, the arm or lever and rodconnecting it to said pedal, the spring-stop and pin or projection toengage it, one of which is attached to the pedal and the other to asuitable support, to lock the pedal, and means for moving said springstop from out of engagement with said pin or projection, substantiallyas and for the purposes described.

2. The combination of the foot pedal, the arm or lever and rodconnecting it to said pedal, the spring-stop and pin or projection toengage it, one of which is attached to the pedal and the other to asuitable support, a sliding pin or bolt to act on the spring stop todisengage it from said pin or projection, and means for actuating saidsliding bolt, substantially as and for the purposes described.

3. The combination of the foot pedal, the arm or lever and rodconnecting it to said pedal, the spring-stop and pin or projection toengage it, one of which is attached to the pedal and the other to asuitable support, a sliding pin or bolt to act on said spring-stop todisengage it from the pin or projection, and 30 a finger or triggeracting on said sliding bolt, substantially as and for the purposesdescribed.

4:. The combination of the foot pedal, the spring-stop and pin orprojection to engage it, one of which is attached to the pedal and theother to a suitable support, to lock the pedal, means for disengagingsaid spring-stop and pin or projection to unlock the pedal, and meansfor restoring the pedal to its normal position, substantially as and forthe purposes described.

5. The combination of the foot pedal, the post or standard provided withthe springstop adapted to be moved into and out of said post orstandard, the pin or projection carried by the foot pedal in a positionto engage said springstop, and the sliding bolt and pivoted triggercarried by the pedal'and adapted to actuate the spring-stop to disengageit from its pin or projection, substantially as and for the purposesdescribed.

In testimony whereof Iaflix my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

GEORGE BENTON SHEARER.

"Witnesses:

JOHN W. BUsH, DOUGLAS W. MILLER.

